St. Louis - When Gregg Williams was hired by the St. Louis Rams in 2012 as the defensive coordinator, the Rams knew they were getting an aggressive football coach. What they didn't know is they'd have to wait two more years before Williams would actually coach a practice on the field.

Less than two months after Williams was hired, he was suspended indefinitely by the NFL for his role in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal. He was reinstated by the league 13 months later and spent the 2013 season as a senior defensive assistant for the Tennessee Titans.

After Williams and Rams coach Jeff Fisher repaired their fractured friendship, the Rams hired Williams back last February.

Story by

Ron Clements,

Contributing writer

"I can't tell you guys how happy I am to be back in Missouri and how happy I am to be back in St. Louis with a good group of guys to coach and a good group of guys to coach with," Williams said Tuesday at Rams Park. "It's a lot of fun. And being out here on the grass and getting into the actual practices and getting into the competitions makes me even happier than I can ever get."

Williams' media availability on Tuesday was his first since the Rams introduced him as their new defensive coordinator in February. This month's organized team activities have been the first time Williams has been able to work with the Rams players on the field.

"Until you get on the field and see how they battle through stresses and communications and stuff, the film can tell you a lot, but you have to go through these things and we try to turn the practices into harder simulations than games," Williams explained. "I believe in the organized chaos theory of practices being very hard to communicate, fighting through with reps, so when they get to the games, it's very simple."

Williams put up 101 projects on the board when he was rehired and didn't think the team would get through all of them before training camp. But every one of those projects has already been completed.

"We constantly are throwing things at them that we don't even talk about in meetings because we want to see them stressed," Williams said. "Everybody can calm themselves through relaxed states of mind and walkthroughs, you have time to second-guess things and get back on the same page. But you can't fake who you are under stress and that's what the games are.

"They've learned a bunch and I've learned a bunch about them. It's a fun time."

Fisher said Williams knows the system so well he can coach every position and has brought a new aggressive energy to a defense that already boasts one of the league's best pass rush.

"We're going to probably be a little more creative," Fisher said earlier this month. "We hope to create some more problems, different types of problems for offenses. In addition to Gregg running the defense, our defense is significantly better just from a personnel standpoint right now."

Middle linebacker James Laurinaitis could be seen walking around Rams Park with a Saints defensive playbook back in 2012 after Williams was hired. Excited to have Williams back at Rams Park, Laurinaitis said Williams "is a breath of fresh air" for the defensive players.

"Gregg is extremely prepared and there is a method to his madness," said Laurinaitis, who has led the Rams in tackles in four of his five seasons. "He wants a complete buy-in from everybody and he commands respect. He treats everybody the same. He wants everybody's best effort.

"He likes to attack. He's not one of those guys to sit there and react to what the offense is doing. He always claims we're going to dictate to the offense and set the tempo and stop what they want to do first and make them do something else."

Another player happy to be playing for Williams is linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar, who played for Williams in New Orleans. Dunbar signed with the Rams in 2012 and thought he was coming to St. Louis with Williams.

"I was obviously excited that I get to play for Gregg again," said Dunbar, a Saints linebacker from 2008-2011. "He's one of those guys who puts you in a position to win. He's very competitive and has this attacking style that is always fun to play. Having the opportunity to play for Gregg again is exciting.

"He's intense and fiery and competitive as hell, but he has a good balance. He knows when to push and when not to push."

Williams is also happy to have Dunbar in St. Louis to speak to the coach's character.

"I think it's good to have him going behind the scenes in the locker room saying I'm not as crazy as everybody thinks I am," said Williams, who also has intern coaches Mike Peterson and Pierson Prioleau in St. Louis as ambassadors. Peterson played for Williams in Jacksonville while Prioleau had Williams as a coach in Buffalo, Washington, Jacksonville and New Orleans.

"His question was how come it took you for teams to win a Super Bowl?" Williams quipped, alluding to the Saints' championship in 2009.

St. Louis offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said Williams' impact on the defense has already made things difficult for his unit.

"They create a lot of problems," Schottenheimer said Tuesday. "We get frustrated from time to time, but that's how you get better."

Williams spent three seasons as the Saints defensive coordinator - a position later marred by the bounty scandal. While Dunbar is happy to be together with Williams, the bounty scandal isn't something discussed at Rams Park.

"It's not something we associate ourselves with," Dunbar said. "That's something we left in New Orleans."

A Missouri native, Williams bought season tickets and attended every Rams home game during his suspension. Even though he had more time to hunt and fish, things he enjoys, the time away from the game wasn't easy.

"I don't know if you guys know, I was off a year or two ago, so I had time to do all those things," Williams cracked. "Those are things you have to do. It's a growing process. What I did was make a pledge to myself to be stronger, better, wiser and tougher when I came back. Last year was really good and this year will be even better.

"I'm happiest on the field. I'm happiest here competing. It is fun. This is where I'm happiest, again, in the state of Missouri, back in my home state, here in St. Louis. I cannot tell you how happy I am."

The team got a glimpse of the system when Blake Williams, Gregg's son, was the defacto coordinator.

"It was a little different," Dunbar said of the 2012 season. "But Jeff ran a lot of Gregg's plays, so it was an easy transition. I had to learn some new things and nuances. Jeff did a great job of controlling what was going on with the defense."

When the Rams fired Blake Williams after the 2012 season, the relationship between Fisher and Gregg Williams became strained, but never broken. Now they are reunited after working together with the Titans franchise from 1994-2000.

"It's been 14 years since Jeff and I worked together," Williams said. "He still does a great job and I've evolved a long ways from where we were together before. Now there's an acclimation he and I go through along with the team. It's been fun, but we still have a long way to go. We've got an awful lot done.

"Until I'm out there with them, I really don't get a good feel of how to maximize the personnel," Williams added. "The best coaches in the league, and I've always been able to do some of those things, is how do you maximize the strengths of each and every guy. Everybody's got weaknesses, all of us do, and everybody's got strengths. That's why we play so many packages and we're going to package for situations and for personnel that the other team is bringing on the field, package to our strengths."

One of those strengths is a formidable pass rush, led by defensive ends Chris Long and Robert Quinn, who have combined for 67 1/2 sacks the last three years. Quinn earned a Pro Bowl berth last season after leading the NFC with 19 sacks. The Rams were third in the league last season with 53 sacks.

"This is a defensive line that is probably the best he's ever worked with," said Laurinaitis, who has 12 career sacks. "It's going to be exciting to see how he uses everybody.

"We're going to blitz a lot more. Gregg's going to blitz a ton. That's going to be exciting for everybody and the sacks could still come from the D-line and I expect that they would because of how talented they are. I expect our safeties to get after the quarterback, myself, Jo-Lonn, Ray Ray (Armstrong)...there are packages for everybody.

"It's exciting to be able to cut it loose and go," Laurinaitis continued. "When your number's called to blitz, and there have been very few times in my career here, it's fun. I love doing it. It allows you to be aggressive and I love that about his scheme."

The Saints host the Titans in their second preseason game, but the preseason opener is in St. Louis on Aug. 8.

"I know the personnel and have tremendous respect for them," Williams said. "There are still a few guys around there that were there when I was there. It'll be a fun matchup. It'll be a lot of fun to see those guys."